I am in Washington, D.C., down the street from the White House in a building that used to be a Masonic lodge, and I am sifting through a basket of embroidery floss, looking for just the right combination of colors. When you have been seeing/taking in, there is something especially refreshing about making/creative output.
My recent D.C. visit happened to coincide with the monthly community day of the National Museum of Women in the Arts and their second-ever pop-up makerspace. Inspired by several of the artists on exhibition, they had tables set up for crochet, drawing-machine making, and turning various odds and ends into jewelry.
I made a necklace from a couple of metal washers, some thread and wire.
The museum itself is organized into different floors for different time periods. Their current exhibition, Pathmakers, explores how women have used alternate media to create art, from midcentury to today.
Community days are the first Sunday of every month with free admission in the afternoon.
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Wow, this looks so fun. I completely agree with what you said about how good it feels to create something and sort of get it out of yourself when you have been consuming a lot for a while. Come to think of it, that’s probably why I always wanted to knit in my college classes. I never got up the courage though!
I wish I lived closer to this museum. I’d love to check it out!
Definitely! There’s something that feels really healthy to me about the cycle of taking in inspiration and then expressing creativity – like breathing. My friend Anne knits during meetings and conferences all the time. I wouldn’t have been able to do anything like that in college either, though.
Fun. I’ve never been to that museum, though it feels like all the museums downtown have been taking turns doing little pop-up exhibitions.
That’s funny about the pop-up exhibitions. It doesn’t sound like any of my DC area friends have been to that musuem, but it’s worth checking out!